The Role of a Safety Coordinator

1. The Role of a Safety Coordinator By Nickie Roth CSP, ARM, CIE Meadowbrook Insurance Group 2500 Fairlane Drive, Suite 100 Montgomery, AL 36116-0047 nroth@meadowbrook.com www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

2. Introduction This program is written to provide the basic skills to be a successful Safety Coordinator. This is not a comprehensive and exhaustive training guide to become a full time safety professional. The goal of this training program is to provide a framework for understanding some program elements that will assist the Safety Coordinators in their roles. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

3. Why Safety? Counties have a moral, social and fiscal responsibility to provide safety in the county they operate. The simple fact is safety will: • Save lives • Reduce property damage • Reduce injuries • Save money • Increase productivity • Improves morale www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

4. Why Safety? Proof According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2009, working for a local government agency is almost twice as likely to incur a workplace injury and illness as private sector entities. • The private sector experiences injuries to 3.6% of its workforce annually. • The public sector experiences injuries to 6.3% of its workforce annually. The 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is definitive proof that more safety efforts are needed to control exposures in the public sector. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

5. Basic Outline of a Safety Coordinator Program • Safety Statement • Policies and Procedures • Hiring Programs • Drug Free Workplace • Orientation Programs • Vehicle Operation Qualifications • Safety Training • Safety Validation • Accident Reporting Policy • Accident Investigation Process • Early Return to Work • Retraining • Accountabilities • Safety Committees • Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Reporting www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

6. Safety Statement The Safety Coordinator’s role is to help develop, implement, distribute and train existing and new employees on the county’s safety statement. The safety statement should be: • Distributed to all existing employees. • Posted at key employee workplaces. • Part of the employee handbook. • Part of the employee safety manual. • Part of the new employee orientation process. A safety statement is the foundation on which all safety programs are built. Like a building, the total building is only as strong as the foundation that supports it. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

7. Policies and Procedures Policies and Procedures are the road map to safety. Some refer to policy and procedures as the “do’s and don’ts”. These policies and procedures are a form of behavioral-based safety. Polices and procedures should be specific to each county operation. The Policies and procedures are a written communication of expected “minimum” acceptable safety behaviors. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to help develop, implement, distribute, and validate the county’s policy and procedures. The Safety Coordinator will train existing and new employees on the county’s policies and procedures. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

8. Policies and Procedures Policy and Procedures should address all operations plus the following: • Hazardous Communications (HAZCOM) • Blood Borne Pathogens • Drug and Alcohol Policy • 24-Hour Injury Reporting Policy • Early Return-to-Work Policy (ERTW) • Personal Protective Equipment Program (PPE) • Lifting Safety Training • Lock Out – Tag Out Safety Training (LOTO) • Ladder and Fall Protection Safety • Emergency Evacuation Procedures • Safety Performance Accountabilities • Vehicle Operations Policy and procedures should be in the employee handbook and/or the county safety manual. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

9. Hiring Programs Hiring employees is a challenging task. Often employees are selected based on skills alone. This can lead to hiring issues among them inheriting a candidate that has the necessary skills but has deficiencies in other areas. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to help the human resources department understand the essential elements of the hiring process from a risk management candidate screening process. One of the best tools utilized in the hiring process by Human Resources is candidate screening. Some elements of candidate screening and selection are: • Employment Application • Interview • Reference Checks • Criminal and MVR Background Checks • Drug/Alcohol Screening • E-Verify www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

10. Drug Free Workplace The Safety Coordinator’s role is to help develop, implement, distribute, validate and train existing and new employees on the county’s drug free workplace programs. Each county should establish a written Drug/Alcohol program. The minimum program requirements are: • Pre-employment Drug/Alcohol testing (As a condition of employment)) • Post-accident Drug/Alcohol testing (Testing of employees involved in an injury) • Random Testing (For Safety-Sensitive Positions) www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

11. Drug Free Workplace A formal and written Drug/Alcohol program has many benefits. In addition to the risk reduction and financial benefits from a drug free workplace program, many counties realize additional benefits. Some of these benefits include • Better workforce • Less absenteeism • Better health • Less healthcare costs • Less turnover • Better productivity. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

12. Orientation Programs Safety is behavioral based. Human Factors Engineering is a safety program used to study employee safety behaviors and implement behavior based safety controls in the work place. Studies have shown that most employees will change or alter a work behavior after being trained six (6) times. For this reason, new employee orientation programs are an essential element to any safety program. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop new employee safety training programs and train new employees on the county’s safety statement, safety policy and procedures critical elements expectations (behaviors) to work safety. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

13. Orientation Programs • New employees are more likely to be involved in an accident and/or suffer an injury • New employees must be trained and supervised • Safety is a learned behavior • New employees must be trained to work safely • All employees must be trained to perform their job functions in a safe manner www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

14. Orientation Programs Safety expectations (behaviors) must be in writing. Some of the critical elements that must be spelled out include: • Job Safety • Job Functions • Lifting Safety • Accident Reporting Procedures • Drug/Alcohol Policy • Vehicle Safety • Seat Belt Policy • Cell Phone Policy • Return to Work Policy • Sexual Harassment Policy • Job Specific Policies, PPE, LOTO, HazCom, etc. • Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). While this list is only the basic minimum safety expectations, every orientation program should include these elements along with county specific safety expectations. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

15. Vehicle Operation Qualifications Drivers who operate a motor vehicle for county purposes generate a significant liability and workers compensation exposure for the county. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to work with administration and human resources to help develop and implement a county Vehicle Operations Qualifications policy. • Develop and implement a county Motor Vehicle Operations Qualifications policy • Screen new employee drivers with Motor Vehicles Report credentialing • Monitor/audit existing authorized drivers annually with Motor Vehicles Report(s) • Discipline or removal of driving responsibilities for drivers that exceed the Vehicle Operations Qualifications policy Driving a motor vehicle is the single most dangerous task most employees will do in the course of their job duties. Motor vehicle accidents are the number one cause of occupational fatalities. Strict Motor Vehicle Qualification program should be developed and spelled out in a written Vehicle Operations and Qualifications policy. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

16. Safety Training Safety is behavioral-based. Safety Training is not to be confused with new employee orientation programs and a new employee orientation process. Safety Training is needed for: • New Employees (New Employee Safety Orientation) • Existing Employees (Existing employees when there are changes, reinforcing policies and procedures and ongoing safety training based on needs, probability of loss and/or exposures to loss) • Departments with high exposures, incidents or trends (an example may be the need for lifting safety training frequently in the sanitation department) • Retraining for employees after a behavior based loss or failure to follow policies and procedures. (an example may be an employee driving a vehicle runs into the rear end of a car following too close and failing to stop. The safety committee determines the corrective action needed is driver retraining and recommends that the driver attend a National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Class) www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

17. Safety Validation The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop a system to monitor loss histories and track the losses to implement and validate behavioral-based safety training and implement field validation controls through site/workplace safety inspections. Three types of safety validation: • Loss Tracking – Loss histories will track and demonstrate where safety is effective and additional safety is needed. • Field Validation - Conduct field observations and workplace safety inspections. The goal is to observed safety behaviors, unsafe exposures or needed controls. • Comparative Evaluation - The public sector causes injuries to 6.3% of the workforce annually. To determine your county’s injury rate, take the total number of accidents occurring in a year’s time and divide by the total number of employees. (Example: 10 accidents / 200 employees = .05 or 5% of the workforce injured annually) If your injury rate is less than 6.3%, you are better than the national average. If you injury rate is greater than 6.3%, you are worse than the national average. This comparative validation method will demonstrate when additional safety efforts are needed. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

18. Accident Reporting Policy The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop, implement and train employees during the new employee orientation with full understanding of the county’s Accident Reporting Policy. The same day reporting policy should include the following: • An accident reporting policy statement. • Reporting the accident regardless of size the same day as the accident occurs. (maximum 24 hours) • Reporting procedures (how and to whom you should report an accident) • Reporting of all accidents no matter how small or severe. • Consequences for not reporting an accident within the company 24-hour reporting policy should include disciplinary actions or terminations. Prompt reporting of accidents allows for prompt claim handling, better medical care and reduces the probability of an expensive adversary relationship. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

19. Accident Investigation Process The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop an accident investigation process, monitor the use of accident investigation form(s), review the completed accident investigation process and deliver a summary of the completed accident investigation forms to the safety committee for review and corrective/improvement actions (Control). Purpose of accident investigation: • Training tool for supervisors and employees. • Paper documentation of events. • Prevent reoccurrence of like or similar incidents. (Most Important) www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

20. Accident Investigation Process Accident investigation seeks to prevent the reoccurrence of like or similar incidents. Successful components of the accident investigation process are: • Recognition • Evaluation • Control (Most Important step) www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

21. Early Return-to-Work Written return-to-work (RTW) policies are an effective and efficient method to address loss reduction tactics. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop, implement a written return-to-work program, develop modified, transitional or light duty temporary assignments and coordinate with human resources the early return-to-work efforts for injured workers. Employees who are injured can be efficiently and effectively returned to work though a modified, transitional or light duty temporary assignment. Aggressive return-to-work efforts seek methods to return the injured worker to modified, transitional or light duty temporary assignments as soon as medically possible. Returning an injured worker to a productive work environment is morally, socially and financially beneficial. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

22. Retraining Safety is behavioral-based. Safety training and retraining is needed to insure compliance with expected behavior based safety policies and procedures. The Safety Coordinator’s role is to coordinate the retraining of individuals and departments and monitor corrective actions. The Safety Coordinator should generate the safety retraining resources to help facilitate retraining. Safety Retraining is needed for employees after a behavior-based loss or failure to follow safety policies and procedures. (an example may be an employee driving a vehicle runs into the rear end of a car; the driver was following too close and failing to stop in time. The safety committee determines the corrective action needed is driver retraining or attending a National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Class) Safety training and retraining is needed to insure compliance with expected behavior-based safety policies and procedures. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

23. Accountabilities The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop, implement, and manage a safety accountability system. The Safety Coordinator should generate the safety resources to help facilitate a safety accountabilities program. Safety accountabilities are a very cost effective method to change the safety culture. There are three types of safety accountabilities. • Empower - empowers every employee as a safety ambassador for the county. • Safety Ownership - Employees will take safety ownership when the responsibility is assigned and performance is measured on the safety success and performance results. (Performance/Review/Military) • Financial - Insurance premiums, modified premiums and loss costs are accrued and methodically charged back to the department’s budget. Accountabilities are an effective and efficient tool to encourage compliance with behavioral-based safety policies and procedures to produce a safer environment for all (Results). www.alabamacounties.org www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

24. Accountabilities Accountability will result in ownership. Ownership will result in dedication. Dedication will result in action. Action will achieve results. The goal of accountability is to improve safety results. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

25. Safety Committee The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop the meeting requirements, organize and preside over the Safety Committee and report results to administrator or the county commission. One of the most effective tools a county has to address safety is a safety committee. A safety committee is an effective means to recognize, evaluate and develop controls for county safety, loss prevention and loss reduction programs. A Safety Committee that is run effectively will have impact on the implementation of safety controls that will positively impact the budget and save lives, reduce property damage, reduce injuries and save money. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

26. Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Reporting The Safety Coordinator’s role is to develop and implement a reporting structure to measure, monitor and validate safety and the safety results. Reports are needed to validate safety activities, identify safety opportunities, prove safety progress and impact loss histories/trends. A person lost in a large wooded wilderness area will walk circles for miles with no success. Put a compass in the lost person’s hand and suddenly the lost person has direction. Many Safety Coordinators and safety professionals begin implementing safety efforts without direction. Before safety can be effective, there needs to be direction. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

27. Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Reporting Statistical reports are proof to indicate where safety efforts are needed, safety efforts are valid or additional safety efforts are needed. Reports indicate (like a compass) the direction needed. The commission and the administrator will make decisions based on statistical numbers. Reports track and produce these statistical numbers. These reports help the commissioners and the administrator make accurate decisions based on the direction needed. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

28. Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Reporting Measurement will result in direction. Direction will result in management. Management will result in action. Action will achieve results. The goal of reports is to provide direction to improve safety results. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

29. Consultative Assistance The goal of the five (5) Meadowbrook Loss Control Consultants is to be a consultative professional safety resource for the ACCA Administration and the ACCA Self-Insurance Fund Members and the county Safety Coordinators. Meadowbrook Loss Control Consultants will: Visit each of the ACCA Self-Insurance Fund Members annually to review the county’s safety programs and safety controls Provide on-site training Provide training at ACCA sponsored training sessions Provide a video library for Fund Member’s use Be a resource for safety materials and concerns www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com

30. Alabama County Safety Coordinator Conclusion The Safety Coordinator role is responsible for leading the safety efforts, coordinating safety improvement, leading the safety committee and validating the safety process. The Safety Coordinator is one of the most important positions in county government today. www.alabamacounties.org www.meadowbrook.com